This invention relates generally to dispensers for dispensing roll material. More particularly, this invention relates to a coreless roll dispenser for incrementally dispensing bath tissue from a coreless roll or bulk material and having a flexible roll brace for supporting the roll while allowing rotation of the roll during discrete dispensing events.
Dispensers for rolls of flexible sheet material, such as bath tissue, toilet tissue and paper towels, have been employed for many years. Such dispensers are widely used in public lavatories to dispense sheet material for users. Typically, in the context of toilet tissue, one or more rolls of web material are rotatably supported inside a dispenser cabinet. Often these dispenser cabinets are configured to generally enclose two rolls of material to minimize the frequency associated with restocking of the dispenser. In these systems, a first roll of material is made available to the user while the other is stored in the dispenser. The second roll frequently only becomes available for use or dispensing upon depletion of the material associated with the first roll.
Many conventional roll dispensers have a spindle about which the roll of material is placed when the dispenser is stocked. Typically, the spindle extends through the core of the roll, from one side of the roll of material to the opposing side. The spindle is then affixed to the dispenser structure as both ends. In this configuration, the spindle supports both sides of the roll of material, and allows the core of the roll to freely rotate, as to cause or allow the sheet material to be advanced from the roll and thereby dispensed from the dispenser. U.S. Pat. No. D307845 discloses a design for such a toilet tissue dispenser configured to receive conventional rolls of toilet tissue. Such dispensers, which employ traditional spindles, require rolls of web material to be disposed about a central hollow core. The spindle is then inserted into the hollow core and facilitates rotation of the roll about the spindle during dispensing events. When the roll of web material has been depleted, the core remains within the dispenser, until the dispenser is restocked; at which time the core must commonly be removed from the spindle and is subsequently discarded.
Increasingly, web material product manufacturers as well as users of such dispensers prefer the use of coreless rolls of toilet tissue. Elimination of the core during manufacturing process reduces cost and waste associated with production of rolls of web material. Use of coreless rolls of web material in dispensers, such as toilet tissue, avoids the need to remove the core associated with a depleted roll of web material during restocking processes. As a result, restocking coreless rolls of web material offers a significant time savings as compared to the restocking of conventional rolls of web material that include a core. Furthermore, use of coreless rolls produce less waste products as there is no resulting core to be discarded. As alluded to above, the manufacture of rolls of web material that lack a core may be more economical than those requiring the additional core material and can eliminate manufacturing steps associated with wrapping web material about a core which must be stored and subsequently positioned to receive the web material.
However, while the desire for use of coreless rolls of toilet tissue is increasing, conventional dispensers are not well suited to accommodate coreless rolls. That is to say, that coreless rolls of web material, in which web material is rolled into an uninterrupted roll having a solid center, do not readily provide a longitudinally extending space or conduit through which a spindle or other supporting structure may be extended and supported or otherwise secured to an underlying dispenser. In the absence of a hollow core, there is need for a dispenser or dispensing system that allows coreless rolls of web material to be securely retained within the dispenser while simultaneously allowing the roll to rotate about the roll's central axis in a conventional manner to accommodate incremental dispensing of the roll.
Accordingly, a need exists for a roll dispenser that allows coreless rolls of web material to be secured within a dispenser housing that limits lateral movement of the roll while facilitating rotational movement in response to a user exerting a pulling force on the web material when removing a length of the web material during each discrete dispense event. Preferably, the force associated with tearing or separating discrete portions of the web material from the roll is greater than the pulling force to mitigate tearing of the web material during each dispensing event until desired by the discrete users.